John Adams to Henry Marchant, September 17, 1789

New York Sept r. 17. 1789

Dear sir

Your kind Letter of Aug. 29, gave me much pleasure.

There is more Confinement, in my present Situation than in any,
that I have been in these thirty Years: and another Evil is come upon me, under which I
suffered formerly, but from which I have been wholly relieved during my Absence from
America.— Publick Speaking ever gave me a Pain in my Breast, which was not only
troublesome for the time, but dangerous for the future. My present Office not only
obliges me to a constant and close Attention of Mind, but to continual Reading and
Speaking, which has again affected, La Poitrine, as it used to do, and raises many
doubts how long I shall be able to go on.

Your Account of the Prophecy is
humorous enough: but you must be mistaken in the Point of time. I left Congress on the
11 th. of Nov. 1777 (that Year which the Tories Said had
three Gallows’s in it meaning the three sevens 777) just as Congress had gone through
the Confederation, but before it was Signed. My Name is not to that Confederation. So
that the Prediction must have been uttered either at York Town, a day or two before I
left it, or before, at Philadelphia. I recollect Some Expressions of that Sort, on the
Floor of Congress in Philadelphia, immediately after the Determination that the Votes
Should be by States, and not by Numbers a Point which Wilson and I laboured with great
Zeal. After that determination and some others, I own, I gave up
that Confederation in despair of its Efficacy or long Utility.

Congress have passed a Law, as you Solicited but a Clause has been
introduced relative to Rum &c which perhaps your People may not relish so well. 1 It is now the Universal Expectation that
your State will come in before Winter.— but if the Public should be disappointed, some
thing very unpleasant will undoubtedly be the Consequence.— It would not be difficult
for Congress to make the Unsocial Rhode Islanders, See, and feel, that the Union is of
Some importance to their Interest and Happiness.— Winning however by Mildness and
Condescension is much more agreable.

My oldest Son, arrived here Yesterday, very full of Gratitude for
the Kindness and Attention of your Family to him at Newport.

Deacon Sayward of York, who was a timid Tory, Said to me at Dinner
with the Judges on the Eastern Circuit in June 1774 “M r Adams, you are chosen to go to Philadelphia as a Member of Congress. it is a weighty
Trust, and I beg leave to recommend to you as a rule of your Conduct, the Doctrine of
our former Minister M r Moody. at the Declaration of the War
of 1745, he preached a Sermon from those Words, And they know
not what to 2 do. — His Doctrine from the Words
was, that in times of private or publick Calamity Distress or Danger it was the Duty
of a Person or a People to be very careful that they do not do, they know not
what. ” 3

This Doctrine of Mr Moody I would very humbly and earnestly
recommend to the Faith And Practice of every Member of the Rhode Island Legislature and
Convention. and if you please you may give them this Advice of Deacon Sayward to a
Member of Congress, without mentioning my Name in the Newspapers. I am / sir
affectionately yours

John Adams